


The Child

by ughdotcom



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Cat/Human Hybrids, Child Abandonment, Children, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Foster Care, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28075452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ughdotcom/pseuds/ughdotcom
Summary: What will happen when Rose finds a child in an alley?
Relationships: Queerplatonic Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness/Rose Tyler, Queerplatonic The Doctor/Jack Harkness/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness/Rose Tyler, The Doctor/Jack Harkness/Rose Tyler
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

They were coming back from “date night” when they heard a whimper from an alley.

“What was that?” Rose said, freezing in her walk by the entrance to the alley. Jack and The Doctor stopped too, to look back at her.

“What was what?” Jack asked, moving to stand at her side and peering down the alley.

“I heard it too.” The Doctor looked down the alley. It was dark, filled with all manner of trash and places people could be hiding. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to stop Rose from looking around until she found whatever animal made that sound. He looked at her. “Be careful.”

Rose grinned and stepped into the alley, pulling out her phone and turning on the flashlight. She scanned the alley, looking into every box. The Doctor and Jack watched her turn into a small niche and disappear from their sight.

When she reappeared she was holding something in her arms, large and wiggling. When she stepped into the light it was glaringly obvious what it was. It was a toddler.

The toddler wasn’t human, but she was humanoid, with cat ears and a tail. She was crying into Rose’s shoulder, and the blonde was quietly rocking her and humming.

“We aren’t going to keep her.” The Doctor said as soon as Rose was back by them. “Our lives are dangerous enough, we don’t need a toddler making it more dangerous. And we don’t need a child to grow up like that.”

“If she would grow up at all.” Jack said. He held out his hands, and Rose gently set the child in them. “Hey.” he cooed. “What’s your name?”

“Dinora.” Dinora said softly, flicking her tail back and forth. “Rosie calls me Dinny.”

“Is it okay if we call you Dinny too?” Jack asked.

“Mm-hm.” Dinny smiled, only a little bit.”

“What were you doing in that alley?” The Doctor asked her, stepping closer. Dinny shrank back closer into Jack’s arms.

Rose laid a quiet hand on The Doctor’s arm. “Too harsh.” she said.

“Sorry, Dinora, I didn’t mean to sound scary.” The Doctor said, stepping back and away from her, letting her relax again. “How did you end up there? Are you okay?”

“Mommy said that I was a bur-burden and told me to wait there and then she left.”

Rose looked horrified, and she moved over to Dinny. “Can I hug you?” she asked the young girl, who nodded. Rose hugged Dinny tight, lifting her back into her arms.

“Is he going to hurt me?” Dinny asked fearfully, looking over at The Doctor, who looked offended that anyone could ever consider it. That did nothing to reassure Dinny.

“It’s okay, Dinny,” Jack said, “he’s our boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Rose asked, giving him a judgemental look.

“I doubt the four year old knows what a queerplatonic relationship is.” Jack said back.

“The Doctor isn’t even a boy.” Rose lifted Dinny up higher. “The Doctor, who is the man over there is my queerplatonic partner, or zucchini. So is Jack, the nice man who held you. It means that we’re really close, like boyfriend and girlfriend, but we aren’t in romantic love like a boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Zucchini!” Dinny cried gleefully.

“Yes, but you can’t call them that. You have to wait until you have your own QPPs, if you ever do.” Rose playfully scolded.

“We probably should take her back to the TARDIS.” Jack said, looking at The Doctor.

“Yeah.” The Doctor sighed. The group walked down the street towards the blue police box in another alley. When they stepped inside, Dinny crowed in delight.

“Big!” she said, reaching out her hands.

“It’s bigger on the inside, yes.” The Doctor said. “Now, what are we going to do about her? We can’t keep her, no matter how much you want to, and we can’t give her back to her family.”

“We could leave her in foster care.” Rose suggested. “It’s not the best option, but we don’t really have a better one. She’s too old and too alien to give her to any couple in need of a child.”

“So, foster care?” Jack said, frowning a bit at Dinny, who had fallen asleep in Rose’s arms.

“Yeah.” The Doctor looked sad, but he didn't remark on it. “I know that you want to keep her, but she isn’t like you. She’s a child, and she’s mortal. It would be dangerous for us and her, and most likely traumatizing.”

Jack got up, left the control room, and came back with a basket, some blankets, and a piece of stationary and a pen. He picked up Dinny from Rose’s arms and set her down.

When she woke up, Rose found herself at a foster center for alien children, a note set on top of her.

> My name is Dinora, but my friends call me Dinny. I’m a Catian. My parents abandoned me in an alley, but three nice people found me. They couldn’t keep me, so they put me here in hopes that I could grow and live well.

She had the hazy memory of three lips pressing to her forehead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I lied. Have some more

Din had long grown from the feeble child she had been when she was dropped off at foster care. She was the toughest kid on the block, which happened when you were shoved around foster care until you were 18. She had shortened her nickname down to Din, and punched anyone who dared call her Dinora. That was a name for straight girls and rich kids, and Dinora was proud to be neither.

So of course she was surprised when her engineering professor chose her for the space internship. Sure, Din was good at engineering, but she made an effort so that Mx Robis wouldn’t notice and she would slide by without being seen. So when she was called to meet with Mx Robis she simply assumed she had done somewhat better than usual, and that Mx Robis just wanted to tell her that she should be in a higher engineering class. Not ideal, but also not being chosen for the space internship that only the best classes were allowed.

“I’ve seen your work, Dinora.” Mx Robis started, but Din cut her off.

“It’s Din, or I leave.” Din demanded.

“Of course.” Mx Robis nodded kindly. “I saw your work, and I  _ know _ that you’re good enough to be in a higher class. So I recommended you for the space internship.”

“You  _ what _ ?!”

“You said that you wanted to go to space in your application to this class.”

“Mx, that was a cleverly constructed lie so that you didn’t ask me why I actually wanted to be in an engineering class. I don’t actually like space. Like at  _ all _ .”

“Well, there’s no refusal, so you should just hope that you don’t get accepted.” Mx Robis smiled up at her, and Dinora groaned, grabbing her leather jacket and storming out of the office.

She got accepted.

Well, even if she was going to be in space she could look presentable. She had been considering taming her wild hair into something that looked punk for a while, and when she got the acceptance letter, she grabbed a razor and red hair dye and went to town.

Her hair stayed curly and still reached her chin, but it had been turned into an undercut and dyed a brilliant red. She packed her punkest clothes and left Earth.

It was okay. It was at the very least interesting. Nothing specific of note really happened until she reached Deon 42, when everything went to shit.

Of course, she didn’t actually have anything to do with the accident that happened. She had just not listened to the evacuation order, and hidden in a closet with her book and headphones, hoping she wouldn’t get killed. She could hear voices outside, three voices specifically, but she didn’t pay it much mind until she heard a sigh.

“So that’s dealt with.” a male voice said.

“It could have been  _ anything _ , why did it have to look like an elephant?” a female voice sighed.

“Because of evolution.” the third voice said, also male sounding.

“I know that.” the female said again. “I’m not uneducated, just because I didn’t go to college. I could probably teach an alien diplomatic resources class by now, anyway.”

“Imagine that.” the first voice laughed. “Hi, I’m professor Tyler. Technically I never went to college, but I travel in a TARDIS with my zucchinis, one of whom is the only living Time Lord left, The Doctor. So I know a thing or two about alien relations.”

Wait. Din knew those words. She recognized those words. She had heard zucchini and Doctor before of course, but in that context, and with the world TARDIS.

She burst out of the closet. “You!” she yelled. “I know you!” she looked at the three, and fainted.

“Is that?” she heard foggily.

“I think it is.” another voice said as she gasped awake.

“You awake?” The black haired man asked, propping up her head and helping her sit up.

“Yeah. I know you.” the black haired boy glanced at the girl.

“You do.” The girl said. “I’m Rose, this is Jack, and this is The Doctor. And we found you in an alley when you were four.”

“But you aren’t old.” Din said, getting up and stepping back so she could retain control over the situation.

“We’re time travelers.” The Doctor explained.

“That’s not going to help.” Rose scolded him. “But, yeah, we’re time travelers. It feels like yesterday we found you.”

“Technically it was.” Jack said. “It’s been almost exactly 24 hours for us. I like the hair by the way, Dinny.”

“Thanks. And it’s Din now.”

“I like that!” The Doctor said. “I do!”

“Thanks. What are you doing here?”

“Well, we were on vacation.” Rose said. “Deon 42 has some beautiful lakes.”

“This is a desert planet, dumbass.” Din said, reaching for her pocket to grab her knife, starting to think that the strangers were insane, and she was very lucky to have been left at the foster care center.

“They’re underground.” The Doctor said, shrugging. “Jack, take her knife please.”

“Jack, don’t.” Rose said, grabbing Jack’s hand. “She doesn’t know us. If she needs the knife to feel in control she can have it.” she turned back to Din “If you stab any of us, you’ll be trouble.”

“Why did you leave me there?” Din hissed, letting her hair rise.

“It was the most humane option.” The Doctor explained, stepping forward. “Your parents were abusing you and you’d probably die if we kept you.”

“No I wouldn’t.”

“You were four, and this kind of thing, the aliens running rampant and trying to kill people is a normal day for us.”

“Maybe. I’m strong now. Take me with you.”

“No. You won’t like it, and you won’t have anything you need. Your goals aren’t to travel around space and time. Your goals are to engineer and become a singer.”

“How do you know that?” Rose asked, beating Din to the question.

“Engineering shirt, guitar pick in pocket. And she was singing in the closet for a short amount of time. Good thing that Xellpands are deaf.”

“What do I do then?” Din asked.

“Go follow your dreams. Don’t follow us.” he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the floor. When he shot it, the floor beneath them disappeared and they fell.

“Goodbye!” Rose and Jack yelled, and Din was left alone and confused.

Like always.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably not going to write a second part, but if you're wondering they absolutely do come across each other when Dinny is all grown up


End file.
